Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - Louisville Fire and Rescue is reassigning 24 firefighters, shifting six each from four targeted firehouses, in Crescent Hill, Park Duvalle, Audubon Park and Bowman Field.

 A letter from Fire Chief Greg Frederick alerted the firefighters union last month.

 Now - the union is alerting the public - saying that Mayor Jerry Abramson promised that budget cuts would not degrade public service.

 They say this plan - does just that. 

 “They're cutting public services to cut overtime,” said Craig Willman, Louisville Professional Firefighters Union Local 345 President, “It's simple economics.”

 Both sides agree - the plan cuts overtime.  Frederick estimates it will save the city about $700,000 in overtime per year.

They disagree whether that savings comes at the expense of public safety.  Frederick says even if it wasn’t a budget issue, he would do the same thing.

 “Basically, what we’re doing is utilizing that personnel to staff at other houses and other units where we would normally be hiring overtime,” Frederick said.

 Larger fire trucks called “quads” or “quints” are designed to do more than an average fire truck.

By union contract, it takes six firefighters to staff a quint.   But this plan cuts two firefighters from each six person crew.

 All four firehouses which still have a quad or quint are affected - in Crescent Hill, Park Duvalle, Audubon Park and Bowman Field.

 At Quint 5 assigned to the Park Duvalle neighborhood, in the 90's there were eight firefighters. Today there are six, and as of Sunday, it will be renamed “Engine 19” with four firefighters.

 “You've got to understand that this union here does not have anything to gain other than the safety of our firefighters arriving on the scene without two less people and waiting for another company to arrive on the scene,” Willman said.

 But Frederick counters, “When that unit responds, it will have on it the number of people it needs to be able to perform its duties.”

Willman predicts that under this plan ---- emergencies will arise in which firefighters first on the scene  will not be able to perform some functions, and will have to wait critical minutes for another firehouse to respond.

But Frederick says every other fire house in the department does just fine with four firefighters on duty.